I've been a World Cup official - I promise you there is no favouritism

According to many fans, social media timelines and corners of the internet, Fifa wants Argentina and Lionel Messi to win the World Cup - and the officials are all in on it. As referees, we are forced to deal with the idea that we are part of some kind of conspiracy theory all the time. And it is nonsense. I can't stress this strongly enough. I was lucky enough to be an assistant referee at two World Cups, in 2010 and 2014, as part of a team which featured referee Howard Webb, with Michael Mullarkey running the other line. We were independent, and we made our own decisions. I can assure you this has not changed. The referees are from all four corners of the globe, all from different football associations, separate confederations, and Fifa effectively borrows their services for six weeks. They are completely distinct from Fifa, in a separate training camp. I'm sorry to disappoint any conspiracy theorists, but I can promise you there aren't any clandestine meetings between Fifa's executive committee and the referees. We don't see any of the suits at all. You are basically working every day - physical training, watching clips, debriefing the matches from the previous day. They are full-on days. There's not a lot of downtime, and once you have completed one assignment, you are preparing for the next one. The suggestion that referees are in on some kind of masterplan to make sure Messi gets to the final is just not true, obviously. There is, apparently, a rumour that Fifa wanted an Argentina v Spain final to create a passing of the baton between Messi and Lamine Yamal. I personally had no idea that there was even a photograph of Messi with Lamine Yamal when he was a baby. I suspect that might also be true for many of the referees at this World Cup. Yes, as referees we might make mistakes. This is human nature. And sometimes it might feel like the decisions are going against your country or club. But that's just the result of a fast-moving game with human beings at the centre of it - we are not being directed to create a pre-determined outcome. Nor do we referee by the name on a player's back. Howard and I did a Champions League game some years ago. It was Barcelona at home to Bayern Munich. A huge Champions League game. Messi went down in the penalty area, we didn't award a penalty and the game continued. We got back to England the next day, and reviewed the match and the footage as we did after every game. In hindsight it probably was a penalty - we probably did get it wrong - but we called it honestly. You just make the decision, irrespective of the teams and which players are involved. You're making a judgement as to whether a player has been fouled. You often don't even have time to even look to see who the players involved are. You're just seeing a red shirt against a blue shirt. Conspiracy theories and accusations of bias cause real damage and lead to abuse for referees. It can be difficult to deal with. Pierluigi Collina, who oversees all the referees at the World Cup, had to issue a defence of his referees after Argentina's 3-2 win over Egypt in the last 16. He underlined their integrity and independence. Egypt had made strong accusations that referee Francois Letexier and his team had deliberately favoured Argentina. That they had in some way been instructed to go against their natural instincts. Collina was right to say that narrative can lead to threats against a referee's family, and I've seen it before myself. I'm very lucky that it did not happen to me personally, but I think it's partly because I'm an assistant referee and not a referee. We officiated the final between Spain and the Netherlands in 2010. A proud day for us all. The game, which Spain won 1-0, was extremely challenging to officiate. There were 14 yellow cards and Dutch defender Johnny Heitinga was sent off. Nigel de Jong could have seen red too. There was a lot of criticism from Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk. That is what you have to deal with just for making genuine decisions. Sometimes it is worse than that. Our own English referees at this World Cup, Michael Oliver and Anthony Taylor, have received threats in past years. It is totally unacceptable and it is heightened by these unfounded whispers which question a referee's impartiality. I support England, I love England, and obviously we lost to Argentina. The referee was, in my opinion, a little bit too lenient in the first 25 minutes. But ultimately, th